Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 14/01) - Weledeh Catholic school is, finally, stationary.

Though this is the second year in their new glass, wood and steel structure, students and teachers spent much of the 2000-01 school year settling in.

Last week the school hosted a Canada Rock Remembrance Day theme. Students, and the school mascot, Lupi, were encouraged to let their love of Canada show. - Richard Gleeson/NNSL photo

"We were teaching out of boxes until November," said Grade 1 teacher Sharon O'Rourke of that first year. "It was nice this year to come right in and just start fresh."

Workers finishing up doors and walls were also part of school life last year.

Construction of the new $10.2 million school began in the summer of 1999. Everything from fish food to computers was packed up and moved into the old St. Patrick high school, located next to Weledeh.

During the summer that followed, desks, chairs and books were boxed up again and moved to storage trailers as work was finished on the new school. At the end of the summer, everything was packed up again and moved into the new school.

The moves involved the entire school, with teachers and students helping pack up and unpack their classrooms each time.

"I some ways it was probably one of the strongest educational experiences I've been through," said principal John Murphy. "There was a sense of team, a mission we were on and we ended up gelling like we never had before."

Bright beginning

"Fresh" is the word staff often use to describe the new school.

Following on the design of the new St. Patrick's high school, which was completed in 1995, natural light penetrates Weledeh's hallways, classrooms, offices and gathering spaces.

"It's a lot bigger and has lots of glass," said Grade 4 student Thumlee Drybones-Foliot of the new school.

Glass is the most apparent material in the school. From his office, Murphy can look through two glass walls and into the classroom across the hall.

"We've gone from a dark, drab dilapidated building to a fresh, open, well-built facility," said Murphy.

Construction of the new Weledeh school was the second part of the school board's vision of a Catholic school campus.

Between them, Weledeh and the new St. Pat's school share the biggest gym north of the 60th parallel.

A retractable wall in the centre of the 1,600 square metre gym is the removable barrier between the two metal-clad schools. With a nine-metre high ceiling, the venue meets international standards for volleyball and can accommodate just about any other indoor sport.

The most popular sport at the school is indoor soccer.

Walking across the hardwood floors of the new den of the Weledeh Wolves, phys-ed teacher Dan Curtis said Weledeh students were well aware of the St. Pat's gym and wanted one just like it.

"Half of this gym would be larger than the largest gym we used before," said Curtis, who is also assistant principal.

More than a building

Murphy is careful to point out that, despite the improvement, Weledeh is far more than a building.

One of the two priorities the school identified is to build a school culture, an identity that students and staff collectively bring to the new structure.

And there are more and more students to develop that culture.

Enrolment has increased by 50 students in the two years the new Weledeh has been in operation. Today the school boasts a student population of 330, not far from its design capacity of 375.

To illustrate the difference between a school as a building and a school as a community, Murphy recalled an incident that happened while Weledeh was in the throes of moving.

An official from the board's central services division said to a blind Weledeh student, "You know, we're building a beautiful new school for you."

"But I'm already in a beautiful school," replied the student.

Drybones-Foliot said it was the people rather than the teachers who make the school.

"It's a new building, but the same teachers," she said. "I like the building. I like the teachers."

The new setting is also a draw for teachers. At a time when some schools in the North are scrambling to stay staffed, Weledeh has no turnover.

Murphy said all the teachers who were there last school year are back.